Ronnie Pontiac

In this interview for Reality Sandwich Prof. McDonald reflects on the differences between the concepts of daimons and.demons, including how and why demons replaced daimons in the popular imagination, the importance of Jung to historians of alchemy, prehistoric stone circles, Hegel as a Hermeticist, Stephanos of Alexandria, and much more.

From living next door to the Grateful Dead to a 80s new wave band with iconic guitarist Nels Cline to the psychedelic music, and spoken word stream Radio EarthRites to famed acid blotter art, Gwyllm Lwydd exemplifies a certain kind of renaissance man receiving too little attention in the media, and perhaps in history as well.

The world of Eclectic Medicine and of Emerson reinventing Thomas Taylor to inspire Americans had come to an end, although it would see rebirths in places like the Philosophical Research Society and movements like the New Age of the 1980s.

Psychedelic subculture was not the invention of the 1960s. Author Tom Hatsis brings light to the Telestai of Eleusis, the Mysteries of Isis, the Dionysian cult, and the magical rituals of Thessalian witches, finding evidence in the Jewish, Roman, and Gnostic traditions that despite centuries old official prohibitions, knowledge of the lost tribal heritage persisted in secretive ways.

For the first time, the design of a new deck is inspired by America’s occult literary heritage. Thea Wirsching Ph.D, co-developer of the American Renaissance Tarot deck, is a wounded healer, astrology, priestess of SekhMet. Her life and work deserve an interview, but this one is dedicated to our discussion of this unique new tarot deck.

Bringing a new meaning to the term High Priest, Chris Bennett’s Liber 420: Cannabis, Magical Herbs and the Occult reveals a world of lost knowledge about the origins and practices of mainstream religions and underground spirituality.

After a journey of 4.9 billion miles the Cassini Orbiter has disappeared into the object of its obsession, the planet Saturn. The story of how the first launch got scrubbed begins with a thunderstorm shaking a tin shack on a Sioux reservation in early October 1997.

The official history of science says that with the birth of modern science astronomy and chemistry soared into the heavens while astrology and alchemy were condemned to lurk in the shadows. That’s not how Professor Leon Marvell sees it.

Christianity remains the most acceptable religion in America, but American Metaphysical Religion has intersected and in many ways transformed Christian belief and practice. The brothers Guthrie are an excellent example of this.

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